SRINAGAR: For the government forces, their efforts against militancy this year have been more successful than they were last year, according to Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh.
Singh stated this during his interaction with reporters on Monday post the Barzulla encounter in which a most-wanted Pakistani militant and his associate were killed.
“The number of ‘successful’ operations and arrests this year has been high compared to last year,” Singh told reporters.
The Barzulla encounter was the eighth in Srinagar this year. Singh said that the foreign militant, Saifullah, was part of the LeT’s attempt to gain a foothold in Srinagar, but a well-laid and effective intelligence network had foiled the attempt.
“As a result, only one militant remains active in the city. Efforts are on to neutralise him, too,” he added.
Singh said that 10 militants had been killed in four anti-militancy operations in the last five days. The Barazulla encounter was this year’s 75th of what Singh called “successful” encounters in which 180 militants have been killed. He also said that about 138 militants and their associates have also been arrested by the government forces this year. In the same time, “the police reunited 26 youths with their families after they shunned militancy,” he added.
“All these operations against militants conducted this year were neat and clean and conducted in a professional manner. Barring one operation at Batamaloo Srinagar, in which one woman got killed in crossfire, all operations were cleanly conducted by the security forces,” he said.
The government forces, he said, lost 55 men including 19 policemen, 21 CRPF personnel, and 15 army soldiers this year in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Army lost 15 soldiers and majority of them were killed on the LoC,” he said.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz